Training Log Archive: bendover

cycle to work and back

C • Training camp 2

cruise from home, out to beach, over cliff tops to pub and back home.

felt pretty good after yesterdays run, no particular pain or niggles to be honest. happy about that.

i don't particularly like road running, but i figure its going to become a necessary evil over the next few months. i don't have a training partner here in bournemouth, but damn, road running is so boring i think i'm going to have to either join a running club or find someone to run with at least once a week for some variety. oh for a team monday like they have in bristol!

sit ups (35) and lateral crunchies (20 each side).

cycle to town and back, via meryck park

i've flipped my track bike over from single speed to fixed gear.

i'll allow 1 hipster gag per person.

reasoning - i wanted to fix a rear brake onto my single speed - even went as far as buying the lever and brake fittings - however it turns out that its going to be pretty tricky to put a rear brake on. my bike frame has been designed to be fixed, so there are no spacers for the brake cables for a rear brake. i'm fed up of almost crashing into cars and not having enough braking power, so i'm keeping my front brake, and am going to learn how to ride fixed so that my legs become the rear brake. on the bright side, this should have an extra muscle strength benefit for my quads, hamstrings and calves.

C • hipster 2

Event: Compasssport Cup Final - Burbage
 

Compass Sport Cup Final, Burbage Moor

Slightly disappointing performance, although perhaps more of a reality check than anything. Although I was aware that this race would effectively be a marker to find out where I really stand against some of the best UK orienteers (craney for instance), I had it in my head that I should be aiming to be around 10mins behind the winner. I was 20 behind Craney on the day; some of this could be put down to mistakes, but a lot of it was also strength in terrain and general orienteering flow. I was regularly hesitant and indecisive, and found running in the high heather really tough.

Analysis

Start - 4 was pretty routine, Jegor then caught me on the way into 4 and I got a tow off him through to number 6. We both missed about 20-30 secs on #6, running too low.

6-7 - Jegor left me behind through pure running speed on this long leg, this was no surprise and I didn't make any effort to stay with him, preferring to keep my own pace, which I felt was about right.

7-8 - I lost around 30-45 seconds on this leg i think, didn't really get lost, just hesitancy and a lack of confidence in my own mapreading/directional sense.

8-9 - first big miss here, must have been about 2.5 minutes. overshot this control after not seeing the first fence, presumed the second fence was the first fence and only realised when i hit the wall, around 150-200m beyond the control.

9-11 was fine, but the i missed 1 min running too low on #12, another 90 seconds through hesitancy on #13, then 20 seconds running too high on #14.

My confidence was low by this point, and I lost 30 seconds on both #15 and #16 - really pathetic on #15, just a lack of conviction in my own navigation on a REALLY easy control (just run up the fucking stream, duh!) and then on #16 i stood and looked at my map for about 20-30 secs like a complete lemon, the control was about 5 metres away behind a patch of bracken. felt like an idiot!

so - roughly 7.35 lost on mistakes (although i'm guessing at this, comparing splits with those around me will reveal whether it was more or less) - so thats still a long way behind craney (13 minutes) through pure terrain/running strength.

Positives:

- when the running was flat and on paths, i actually felt pretty strong, even at the end of the course! I guess this is to be expected when pretty much 90% of my running training over the last 6 months has been on roads and trails. Really need to develop some terrain fitness (higher knee lift perhaps?) if i want to be more competitive in orienteering races.

- if this race had been a year ago i probably would have been about 1 hour behind craney. so it felt good just to be out there and doing it!

- saw lots of old faces, had some brief catchups. that was really nice. where have all these sprogs come from??!!!!!

:-)

C • O 2

when i got my adidas swoops out of my bag before the race today, i found a huge rip through the 'tough' material on the outside of my left shoe. i'd only used these shoes 3 times since buying them!! they're going to have to be sent back.

Easy jog around curdworth village from my parents house, with 4 x 100m strides. Felt pretty good.

IW/HFW x 2

cycle IW and HFW

home - bourne valley - branksome chine - sandbanks - pier - home

C • Hey Ben 2

cycle IW and HFW

steady run, meryck park and pugs hole. not much else to say to be honest.

30 x sit ups.

cycle to work and back

mixed pace run - my watch has given up the ghost so the times are estimates. out from home and half lap of meryck park, then down through central gardens to beach. intervals on hard sand, surf was up and beautiful sunset. up onto cliff tops, then back through town centre and hard up richmond hill. easy cruise back from there.

situps, crunches and plank on cliff top.

felt slightly better today, but still a little tired from travelling.

gained a bit of weight during a fat week in georgia! good to be back on healthy, non american food!